CPJ slams legal treatment towards scribes in Turkey

NEW YORK - Hürriyet Daily News

The article underlines the convictions of two journalists, Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener. Above is seen a protest photo in front of the court during the two’s trial. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

A recent analysis published on the website of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) slams the treatment of journalists in Turkey, saying that many journalists - especially Kurdish and leftist sympathizers - face extremely harsh legal treatment.

Written by the Deputy Director of the CPJ, Robert Mahoney, the article says that a critical journalist in Turkey these days needs a lawyer on standby: “The press is laboring under a creaking judicial system and a panoply of antiquated and vague legislation that officials and politicians of every stripe find irresistible as a weapon against muckraking reporters and critical commentators,” the article reads.

Mahoney also says the legal system has become a battleground between the ruling Justice and Development Party and Kemalists, ultranationalists of the old order known as the “deep state.”

“Add to this a concentration of media ownership among conglomerates reluctant to jeopardize their vast non-media business interests by angering authorities, and journalists of all political persuasions feel exposed,” the article continues. The outcome in many cases is chronic self-censorship by reporters and commentators fearful of prosecution or losing their jobs, it concludes.